Similarities and differences between gzip and bzip2

A compressed file uses less disk space. It consumes less memory and network bandwidth when moved to another location. Gzip and bzip2 are the two most widely used compression utilities on Linux. Linux provides both tools with the default installation. This tutorial compares both and explains their similarities and differences.

Similarities and differences between the gzip and bzip2

The following table compares the supported options of gzip and bzip2.

Short option	Long option	Supported command	Description
-h	--help	Both	List all supported options.
-d	--decompress	Both	Decompress the compressed file.
-f	--force	Both	Overwrite the existing output file.
-t	--test	Both	Test the compressed file's integrity.
-c	--stdout	Both	Write the output to the standard output device.
-q	--quiet	Both	Don't display non-critical errors and warnings.
-v	--verbose	Both	Display verbose messages.
-L	--license	Both	The bzip2 displays both the software version and license information. The gzip displays License information only.
-V	--version	Both	The bzip2 displays both software version and license information. The gzip shows version information only.
-1	--fast	Both	The bzip2 sets block size to 100k. The gzip compresses faster.
-9	--best	Both	The bzip2 sets block size to 900k. The gzip compresses better.
-z	--compress	bzip2 only	Force compression.
-k	--keep	bzip2 only	Keep the original file.
-s	--small	bzip2 only	Use less memory.
-l	--list	gzip only	Display the compressed and decompressed size.
-n	--no-name	gzip only	Do not save or restore the original name and time stamp.
-N	--name	gzip only	Save or restore the original name and time stamp.
-r	--recursive	gzip only	Operate recursively on directories.
-S	--suffix=SUF	gzip only	Use suffix SUF on compressed files.

Options -h, -d, -f, -t, -c, -q and -v work similarly in both commands.
Options -1, -9, -L and -V work differently in both commands.
Options -z, -k and -s work only with the bzip2 command.
Options -l, -n, -S, -N and -r work only with the gzip command.

Difference between gzip and bzip2 commands

Besides options, there are a few more differences between both commands. The following table lists those differences.

The gzip command	The bzip2 command
It uses the DEFLATE algorithm.	It uses the Burrows-Wheeler block sorting algorithm.
To denote the compressed file, it uses the extension .gz.	To denote the compressed file, it uses the extension .bz2.
It compresses files at a higher speed than the bzip2 command.	It provides a higher compression ratio than the gzip command.
It does not provide any built-in functionality or associate program to recover the damaged .gz files.	It provides an additional program called bzip2recover that can recover the damaged .bz2 files.
For decompression, it provides the gunzip utility.	For decompression, it provides the bunzip2 utility.
It supports recursive compression.	It does not support recursive compression.

Comparing compression time, size, and ratio

The bzip2 provides a higher compression ratio but takes more time. The gzip takes less time but also provides less compression. Let us verify this through an example.

Create a directory and switch the current working directory to it.
Create a test file by redirecting the man page of the grep command.
Check the file size.
Use the gzip command to compress the file. Note down the time it takes.
Check the size of the compressed file and uncompress it.
Compress it again using the bzip2 command and note down the time taken.
Check the compressed file size and uncompress it for the next exercise.

#mkdir testdir
#cd testdir
#man grep > testfile
#du -b testfile
#time gzip testfile
#ls
#du -b testfile.gz
#gunzip testfile.gz
#ls
#du -b testfile
#time bzip2 testfile
#du -b testfile.bz2
#time bzip2 testfile
#du -b testfile.bz2
#bunzip2 testfile.bz2
#du -b testfile
#

To check and verify the compression ratio, use the -v switch with both commands.

#du -b testfile
#gzip -v testfile
#gunzip testfile.gz
#bzip2 -v testfile
#bunzip2 testfile.bz2

This tutorial is the last part of the tutorial 'The gzip and bzip2 commands in Linux Explained with Examples'. The first part of this tutorial is the following.
How to use gzip and bzip2 Linux commands Explained

Conclusion

This tutorial compared gzip and bzip2 and explained their similarities and differences through examples. By learning these similarities and differences, you can effectively select and use the tool that fits your requirements.

Author Laxmi Goswami Updated on 2025-11-30